Nasdaq

Sony Ericsson, the mega-electronics business that two years ago signed a six-year, $88 million deal to become title sponsor of the WTA Tour, will announce today it has signed a multi-year deal to replace Nasdaq as title sponsor of the Key Biscayne tournament. The name of the event will change from the Nasdaq-100 Open to something that includes the new brand name. The Key Biscayne tournament is the biggest non-Grand Slam event in tennis and is often referred to as the "fifth major." It is the fourth name change for the tournament since it began in 1985 as the Lipton International Players Championship.

Stonegate Bank, the second-largest bank based in Broward County , began offering common stock on Nasdaq on Wednesday. Bank executives saw the move as a way to attract more investors than its former over-the-counter listing. Nasdaq requires companies to supply more information that investors and customers alike can obtain, said Dave Seleski, Stonegate's president and CEO. "It creates more transparency," Seleski said. "You can open the hood and see what's going on. " The bank, which primarily loans to businesses, finished acquiring Florida Shores Bancorp and its subsidiaries in January and has been substantially increasing its loans and deposits.

As criticism has mounted against the Nasdaq stock market in recent years, the cry has been that individual investors had gotten a raw deal compared with how they were treated on the stock exchanges. But many assumed that institutional investors, who were better able to negotiate deals and savvier about trading rules, could do equally well on any market. Now studies are emerging that challenge that. They argue that the costs of trading on Nasdaq - including the market impact of block trades - are substantially higher than on stock exchanges.

Two young Fort Lauderdale financial advisers will help ring the 4 p.m. Nasdaq Stock Exchange closing bell Friday to help celebrate a real estate trust merger. It's a special moment in their young careers, and also something of a challenge. "We just found out. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said C. Grant Conness, who said he and his partner, Andrew Costa, were scrambling to get flights to New York.. Conness, 35, and Costa, 31, lead Global Wealth Management, an Oakland Park Boulevard firm that conservatively invests for mostly baby boomers who are near retirement or already there.

Trident Environment Systems, a West Palm Beach company that specializes in technologies to clean up hazardous and non-hazardous waste, began trading its stock on Nasdaq on Wednesday. Its symbol is TRES. Under a patented process, Trident produces a bacteria that destroys grease. It also owns the patent for an industrial furnace fuel product called "Consta-Coke," which is made from waste byproduct produced when oil is refined. The technologies were derived from the Oct. 5 merger of ProBac International Corp.

Nasdaq, the computerized trading market, today launched an enhanced World Wide Web site at (http://www.nasdaq.com). It also began a newspaper and television ad campaign to spread the word about new Securities and Exchange Commission rules that take effect in January. However, investors must wait until January for on-line information on the rules changes, which affect limit orders and stock quotes. The new rules will require Nasdaq to display buy and sell prices that have been readily available to institutional traders but not to average investors.

Finally, the ITF and officials of the Australian Open have come to realize that it's time to move the tournament from mid-January to some time in March. It's not going to happen before 2007, but it's remarkable that after years of lobbying by the ATP and WTA tours, the ITF agrees that something has to be done to make the tournament more attractive. Too many top players, particularly on the men's side, don't play the first Grand Slam of the season, which comes only two months after the end of the previous season.

Swisher Hygiene, a commercial cleaning company with substantial holdings and investors in South Florida, said Tuesday it has received a letter from the Nasdaq stock exchange warning the company's stock will be delisted. The delisting would be the result of Swisher failing to file timely annual and quarterly reports with regulators. Swisher said it plans to file an appeal with Nasdaq. Swisher has been undergoing an an internal audit on its revenues and has delayed its 2011 and 2012 quarterly filings until the process is completed.

Swisher Hygiene, a Charlotte, N.C., commercial cleaning company with significant holdings and investors in South Florida, notified regulators Wednesday that it would be late on its filing for the quarter that ended June 30. This is the third late notification by the company, which has been undergoing an internal review concernings its revenues. Swisher hasn't filed its annual or first quarter reports with regulators. Swisher said in May that an audit committee report could result in a restatement of results for three quarters in 2011.

Swisher Holdings has been warned by the Nasdaq stock exchange that it may be delisted for not being in compliance with filing requirements, the company said Thursday. Swisher, a Charlotte, N.C.-based company with large Fort Lauderdale holdings, said it told Nasdaq that its annual financial filing would be delayed beyond April 16 due to an internal audit committee review. The company received the notification from Nasdaq on Wednesday. The company, whose stock also trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, was told it was in default of disclosure requirements under Ontario securities laws on March 30. Swisher said its audit committee has cited material adjustments that may result in a restatement of results for the quarters ended March 31, 2011, June 30, 2011, and September 30, 2011.

One day after foreclosure attorney David J. Stern's Plantation law firm announced it would cease home repossession operations, his publicly traded paperwork-processing company notified the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that it would voluntarily delist itself from the Nasdaq stock exchange. Both Stern's law firm — once the largest foreclosure firm in the state — and his company, DJSP Enterprises, have collapsed under the weight of a Florida Attorney General's Office investigation into whether the companies filed fraudulent foreclosure paperwork in court cases.

Swisher Hygiene Inc., the latest venture by serial entrepreneurs H. Wayne Huizenga and Steven Berrard, will begin trading on Wednesday under symbol SWSH on Nasdaq. The company's common stock will continue trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under SWI, but will no longer be traded on the OTC Pink Sheets. The move to Nasdaq Global Market is an evolutionary step in the public company's growth, enhancing value for shareholders, said Berrard, chief executive officer. Swisher is buying smaller cleaning operations, a successful strategy for the well-known entrepreneurs.

NASDAQ halted trading in the stock of Boca Raton vitamin seller Vitacost.com for a second session Thursday, after the company found "potential defects" in its documents and transactions. Because of the problems, the company said in a statement Tuesday that all of its financial reports dating to 1994 and corporate statements dating to June 2007 "cannot and should not be relied upon, primarily due to uncertainty related to the company's equity capitalization. " An audit committee of the company's newly reconstituted board of directors discovered the problems and said it is trying to resolve them, and may have to restate the financial reports.

A South Florida nutritional supplement is making inroads nationally and its creator is poised for growth. Celsius Holdings of Delray Beach recently raised $13.1 million on the Nasdaq Capital Market after moving its stock from the bulletin board. The money will finance an aggressive marketing campaign, product development and other operational expenses. Its namesake calorie-burning drink Celsius (originally launched in 2005 as Elite FX), is gaining popularity with health-conscious Americans.